Originally Posted by Kevin Levites
I've brought this up in other forums (Skeptic Magazine), and I'll bring it up here.
Anyone interested in the Jersey Devil, Bigfoot, Skunk Ape, Yeti, and so on should check out the books by Tom Brown Jr. ('The Tracker', 'Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival', 'Grandfather', 'The Quest', and so on).
This guy was, apparantly, trained in the arcane arts of psychological and guerilla warfare by an Apache scout named Stalking Wolf.
Many of the sightings of the Jersey Devil in the sixties can be blamed on him and his friend Rick--some Native Americans have a tradition of counting coup, which sometimes involves the theft of an intimate item and, basically, terrifying the living **** out of your enemy without killing him.
There are many secret societies that have existed in history. The Skull and Crossbones of Yale University has members like George Bush (Jr. and Sr.), the Black Dragon Tong of China, and the various ninja organizations of Fuedal Japan qualify.
I find it interesting that many sightings of strange creatures occur near tribal lands.
It wouldn't surprise me if there were some Native American traditions have survived.
All the best,
---Kevin